Simon Wegg
'Silas Wegg' Silas Wegg is a literate man who begins the novel on a street corner with his own vending cart out of which he peddles subpar food items. His most notable feature is his wooden leg, and he is often described as more "wooden" than human. He later comes to occupy the Boffin's Bower where his job is to read to the illiterate Mr. Boffin. Wegg strikes up a malicious partnership with Mr. Venus in order to ruin the Boffins and get their money. All in all, he's a crafty, conniving, angry citizen of the working class. 'Chapter V' "On the front of his sale-board hung a little placard, like a kettle-holder, bearing the inscription in his own small text: Errands gone / On with fi / Delity By / Ladies and Gentlemen / I remain / Your humble Serv': / Silas Wegg" (52). *This is the first time audiences get a glimpse of Wegg as a character. It is clear he is a literate person because of his own handwritten placard that describes his station of service to passerbys. The disjointed and irregularly capitalized content of his sign might be indicitive of his lower class status. He also claims himself to be a "humble Serv'." In some regards, he is humble, but his humbleness is largely a front. When readers see him alone or in the company of Mr. Venus, Wegg can often be seen plotting "revenge" against his employer Mr. Boffin - a nice, humble man himself. "Yet, he knew so little about the inmates that he gave them names of his own invention: 'Miss Elizabeth,' ' Master George,' 'Aunt Jane,' 'Uncle Parker' -- having no authority whatsoever for any such designations. particularly the last -- to which, as a natural consequence, he stuck with great obstinancy" (53). *Here readers get an idea for Wegg's power of invention through literacy. Working on the street corner as an errand runner, he has made up a rich fiction in his head where he believes himself to be the charged vassel of the house on the corner that he calls (to himself) "Our House." This quote gives evidence of his vivid imagination, as it has produced an idealized scenario on which he bases his current existence. Wegg genuinely believes that what he does in the service of these people, and is consequently proud of his "accomplishments." As the novel progresses and Wegg's fortunes shift by coming under the employ of Mr. Boffin, this fiction of Wegg's regularly recurs. "'A literary man -- with a wooden leg -- and all Print is open to him! That's what I thought to myself, that morning, pursued Mr. Boffin...'all Print is open to him! And it is, ain't it?' 'Why, truly, sir,' Mr. Wegg admitted, with modesty; 'I believe you couldn't show me the piece of English print, that I wouldn't be equal to collaring and throwing.' ... 'Then consider this. Here am I, a man without a wooden leg, and yet all print is shut to me'" (57). *This is an important exchange between Wegg and Mr. Boffin because it illustrates the complexity of the affordances of literacy. On one hand, there is Wegg, a blue collar, working class character who is literate and imaginative; on the other hand, there is Mr. Boffin, a man who has been of the blue collar working class for most of his life until the death of John Harmon when all the man's wealth was suddenly left to him, and yet he is illiterate. Thus, Mr. Boffin is a character who becomes limited by his illiteracy as it prevents him from being able to discern genuineness from skillful manipulation, and Wegg is limited by his station in life. #Class Disparity *It is also worth noting that Dickens deliberately chose to capitalize "Print" when Boffin is describing how all of it is open to Wegg, and then alternately leaves it lowercase when referring to how it is shut to him. Such a rhetorical choice could be indicitive of Boffin's willingness to humbly defer to Wegg on matters of literacy, and thus be seen as a textual symbol of Boffin's resulting respect. "'For when a person comes to grind off poetry night after night, it is but right he should expect to be paid for its weakening effect on the mind'" (59). *Here audience's begin to understand that the honesty of Wegg's reading and poetry is very contrived and inauthentic. For one, "to grind off poetry" doesn't sound very meaningful, but more like a necessary evil of the job. His skill with language in this quote is evident as he attempts to manipulate Mr. Boffin into paying more for poetry. "A certain loftiness, likewise, took possession of Mr. Wegg; a condescending sense of being in request as an official expounder of mysteries" (61). *At this point, Wegg understands himself to be in a position of power over Mr. Boffin because of his literacy. In this quote specifically, "mysteries" is equivalent with literature. "'...you made a little mistake this morning, which I had meant to set you right in, only something put it out of my head. I think you said Rooshan Empire, sir?' 'It is Rooshan; ain't it, Wegg?' 'No, sir. Roman. Roman.' 'What's the difference, Wegg?' 'The difference, sir?' Mr. Wegg was faltering and in danger of breaking down when a bright thought flashed upon him. There you place me in a difficulty, Mr. Boffin. Suffice it to observe, that the difference is best postponed to some other occassion when Mrs. Boffin does not honour us with her company. In Mrs. Boffin's presence, sir, we had better drop it'" (65-6). *This particular dialogical exchange is an example of Wegg's moral incompetence and his craftiness with language that he uses to cover up his moral failings. Wegg is clearly taking advantage of Mr. Boffin's ignorance in letters to cover up his own ignorance of worldly and historical matters. Thus, Wegg ironically makes himself look all the smarter in Boffin's eyes. "Then, Mr. Wegg, in a dry unflinching way, entered on his task... having read on by rote and attached as few ideas as possible to the text, came out of the encounter fresh..." (66). *Upon his first reading at the Bower, Wegg exhibits a thoroughly uninterested air in the material. It can be inferred from this that he doesn't much care for the content of things in either books or people. People because Mr. Boffin is a very candid, good-hearted man, and Wegg only cares about the superficiality of Boffin's money and possessions. In other words, Wegg's literacy seems to function as more of a sinister tool by which he can get what her wants (richess) instead of as a benign tool for social change or self-improvement.